Gender?? Pullet or Cockerel

[redinator]

It's nice when I'm not the only one that's uncertain, lol.

 

[AshVau22]

I'll update in a few weeks I'm normally pretty good at telling but this one got me for sure.

 

[The Moonshiner]

That's a new one on me. Thanks, @The Moonshiner .

I get the red shoulders deal with EEs but it's gotten to the point that everything with red on the shoulders is a cockerel.
That's just not the case. If you look at the rooster below you can see the red shoulders that that thought came from. Yes lots of male EEs have it but what you're looking for is that patch that's dark red on this rooster. The red coloring in that area and it's usually a deeper red color. Just my thoughts but if the bird has a lot of other red areas and or that area is in a deeper red it doesn't automatically point to a male.

You also hear often about the female specific pattern. Those females usually have more of a pattern to them than the males that have more bold colors. That female pattern was for camouflage. This bird does not have that female pattern but I think those lines are a hint that that pattern is there just covered up.
Here's a hen with the female specific pattern and if you look you can see those lines on her.
That's all just my thoughts so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[angc11]

In my opinion, this is a pullet. Most importantly, at nine weeks that is really small and pale comb to be a cockerel. I also could be wrong but in my experience, I agree with The Moonshiner about rust leakage. For your bird, I don’t think that is “rust leakage” on the shoulders since the orange coloring is pretty consistent throughout all the feathers. Rust leakage as I’ve seen it on my BYM cockerels is smaller kind of random patches of dark red (rust color) and usually doesn’t contribute to their overall coloring. It might match their hackles and saddle feather colors but wouldn’t be consistent throughout all the feathering. I attached some photos of rust leakage of my BYM cockerels (around 2-3 months old in these pics). Basically you can see that they have rust patches on the wings that might be consistent with their hackles and saddle feathers, but not necessarily with their overall coloring.

Like I said, I could be wrong but I’ve had a lot of BYMs of various mixes. I always used comb size and comb color almost exclusively to identify cockerels. That was always the key indicator for me and became apparent after 8 weeks. The rust leakage came later usually in tandem with hackles and saddles and always seemed to be patchy like the pics below.

 

[JedJackson]

I think Easter egger x laced Wyandotte pullet, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was wrong on gender. I'm putting weight on its small and pale comb, plus the slender legs, rather than color pattern in this case. The hackle is pretty well developed as well, but my gut is saying female for this one.

OP, post back in a few weeks if you have time. By 12 or 13 weeks male specific feathers or lack of them should tell the true tale.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 

[Whittni]

I think its a pullet

 

[AshVau22]

Update!! For anyone who guessed pullet you are Correct She is a very pretty BYM girl.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So pretty!

 

[WhatsUpDuck]

Yay! Very pretty!